Oceania Business Council Chairman Bruce Atkinson Leads a Delegation to the Zhejiang Council for the Promotion of International Trade

On 21 September 2026, a delegation led by Hon. Bruce Atkinson AM, Chairman of the Board of the Oceania Business Council, visited the Zhejiang Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT Zhejiang) and the Zhejiang Chamber of International Commerce in Hangzhou. The two sides held a frank and practical exchange on deepening economic and trade ties between Zhejiang and Australia and widening the scope for industrial cooperation.

The delegation comprised Hon. Bruce Atkinson AM, Chairman of the Board of the Oceania Business Council and former President of the Legislative Council of Victoria; Executive President Sunny Sun; Adviser Ling Danhong; Councillor and Treasurer Georgia Qiao, Asia-Pacific Marketing Director of DFK International; Councillor and Secretary-General of the Business Services Committee Albert Zhao; and Tim Kelleher, Secretary-General of the Accounting and Legal Committee and Chief Executive of DFK International Australia.

Bruce Atkinson introduced the Council's structure, geographic reach and recent work. He noted that Victoria, where the Council is headquartered, accounts for a quarter of Australia's economic output and is a core engine of the country's growth, with industries spanning agriculture, education, tourism, new energy and advanced manufacturing, and that the Council already has several offices in China. Zhejiang, he said, is a leading province for foreign trade and innovation with a vibrant private sector; two-way trade between Zhejiang and Australia reached about RMB 170 billion last year, giving the two sides a solid foundation and ample room to complement each other. The Council is willing to build a closer matching platform and help projects in artificial intelligence, robotics and biomedicine come to fruition.

"Zhejiang enterprises lead the country in innovation in artificial intelligence, robotics and biomedicine, which matches exactly what Australian businesses most urgently need today," Bruce Atkinson said. "The Council will keep acting as a bridge and promote cooperation that can genuinely be delivered on market principles."

Chen Jianzhong, President of CCPIT Zhejiang and the Zhejiang Chamber of International Commerce, welcomed the delegation and outlined the province's economic and social development. Zhejiang is a major trading and innovation province: its imports and exports reached RMB 5.55 trillion last year, with exports ranking second in China; Ningbo Zhoushan Port has held the world's top spot in cargo throughput for many consecutive years; and the private sector accounts for more than ninety per cent of the provincial economy, with more of China's top 500 private enterprises than any other province. Zhejiang's economic and trade relations with Australia and the other countries of Oceania are close and well founded, he said, and he hoped the two organisations would act as bridges for trade promotion, helping businesses on both sides find precise matches as they go global and bring partners in, and contribute more to win-win cooperation. He cordially invited the Oceania Business Council to bring a delegation to next year's Global Digital Trade Expo in Zhejiang and to hold accompanying business events alongside it.

Both sides agreed that the meeting laid a sound basis for regular exchanges and wider practical cooperation between the two organisations. Yan Jia, Vice President of CCPIT Zhejiang and the Zhejiang Chamber of International Commerce, attended the meeting.